The Director's Son
by JasonMorganfan87
Summary: Director Vance has an adopted son at NCIS that no one else knows about. They're about to find out though when a hit is put out on younger man's life. Who is the Director's son and how will everyone react when they find out? And can they save him from this new threat?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any of its characters.**

**The Director's Son**

**A/N: This is another version of my former story 'Stronger than Blood', though this story will be different.**

Timothy McGee walked into the Italian restaurant he was to meet his sister, Sarah, in. She wanted him to meet her new boyfriend. He wasn't looking forward to it. For one, he had been ambushed with it. He hadn't even known Sarah was seeing anyone. It was irritating, but not surprising. Sarah kept her boyfriends a secret from the family as long as possible. The fact that both Tim and his father were very hard on her boyfriends might have something to do with that. Still, it was annoying.

Tim surveyed the restaurant. He found his sister sitting by herself in the back. He immediately went to join her. "Sarah."

Sarah looked up at him. "Oh, great, you're here," she said unenthusiastically.

"You invited me, remember?" Tim asked as he sat across from her.

"That wasn't my idea, it was Brad's. He had this crazy idea that we should meet each other's families," Sarah said. Personally, she could've gone the rest of her life without her boyfriend meeting her family. Her mother and younger siblings were fine, but her father and Tim were both going to be unbearable as usual.

Tim gasped in fake horror. "How insane."

"Oh, shut up. I have plenty of reasons not to want Brad to meet you. You and Dad make it your lives' missions to scare my boyfriends away,"

"Don't be dramatic," Tim said.

Sarah gave him a look. "Dramatic?! Dad went out of his way to make sure my last boyfriend knew what he did for a living and told him he could make his life a living hell if he ever heard one bad word from me about him. Then you purposely showed him your gun, making you think you'd shoot him if he hurt me."

"Who says I wouldn't have. So where is this Brian guy," Tim asked, purposely saying the name wrong.

Sarah glared at her brother. "It's Brian, as you very well know, and he's running a little late."

"Uh huh," Tim said sounding very unhappy.

"Oh, come off it. People are late sometimes," Sarah said.

"Yeah, well, guys shouldn't be late when they're meeting their girlfriend's families. It doesn't send a good first impression," Tim said.

Sarah shook her head in frustration. "Why did I choose you to be first?"

"Because you knew Dad would be worse and if you just went to Mom, she would tell him. Face it, I was your test run. If you can get through me, maybe the relationship will survive Dad." Tim said with a smirk.

Sarah glared at him again. "You know, the guys in this family are all sexist pigs. You don't get this kind of treatment when you bring someone home."

"I do now," Tim said quietly. After a long string of bad relationships, his parents had become much more wary about the people he dated. They didn't get the same treatment Sarah's boyfriends got, but they were subjected to background checks by his father and long interrogations by his mother.

"That's because you choose such horrible girlfriends," Sarah said.

"You're no better," Tim argued.

Just then, a young man with dark brown hair and brown eyes made his way over to Sarah. "Hey, sorry I'm late."

"It's okay," she said as he kissed her cheek.

The man sat down next to Sarah and held his hand out for Tim. "Hi, you must be Sarah's brother. I'm Brad."

Tim took his hand after a minute. "Tim."

"It's good to meet you. I've heard a lot about you," Brad said.

"Well, that makes one of us. I've heard absolutely nothing about you," Tim said. He then felt a swift kick to his shin and glared at his sister.

"Yeah, Sarah said she was avoiding telling you guys about me. I actually had to pressure her into letting me meet you guys," Brad said.

"So you're pressuring my sister?" Tim asked.

"Tim!" Sarah growled.

"No, it's okay, Sarah. I understand where your brother's coming from. I have two younger sisters. I'm not exactly easy on their boyfriends either. God help them if they hurt my sisters is my motto.

Tim had to admit that so far this guy seemed alright. He seemed decent enough and he was understanding about how Tim was with Sarah. But Tim knew that not everyone was how they appeared. Most monsters were the masks of decent people. He knew that for a fact. "Tell me, Brad, have you ever been arrested?"

"Tim!"

"Once for shoplifting," Brad answered without missing a beat.

"Brad!" Sarah rounded on her boyfriend.

"Sarah, he's gonna find out anyway. He's gonna run a background check, aren't you, Tim?" Brad asked knowingly.

"I won't have to. My father will have your information before he even meets you," Tim said honestly.

Brad chuckled. "Well, I knew one of you would do it, so I figure it's just better to be honest. You'll respect me more for it. Anyway, I was sixteen and my friends and I decided to be stupid and lift a bike from this sporting goods store. Obviously we were caught and arrested. We got lucky. The store owner dropped the charges the next day. Though, I kind of wished they would've kept us locked up. My father was not pleased when he found out," Brad said.

"Yeah, well, we're not gonna judge you because of one mistake. Tim is certainly not one to judge. He went joyriding in our father's car when he was fifteen," Sarah said as she gave Tim a knowing look.

Tim cringed. That was not one of his brightest ideas. It was the first and last time he'd ever been so stupid. He really thought his parents were going to kill him that day. He could still hear the screaming when he thought back on it. "Well, everyone makes mistakes I guess. But should you make any mistakes where my sister is concerned, you will have my entire family on your ass."

"Understood," Brad said.

"Good. Let's order," Tim said before picking up his menu.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

An hour and a half later, Tim, Sarah, and Brad were leaving the restaurant. "Well, it was good to meet you, Tim. I can't wait to meet your parents and younger siblings," Brad said.

Sarah looked at her boyfriend annoyed. "Do you have self-preservation whatsoever?"

Brad chuckled. "Come on, it can't be that bad. You said your brother was unbearable and it wasn't so bad."

"That's because I made him leave his gun at home," Sarah half joked.

"I still had my knife," Tim bantered. He took a knife everywhere. Gibbs would kill him if he started breaking rule nine."

Brad looked at Tim with a smile. That smile then turned to a frown.

"Something wrong?" Tim asked.

Sarah looked at her brother and saw what her boyfriend had noticed. There was a red dot from a laser on her brother's head. "It looks like some stupid kid is playing with a laser pen. You've got one of those fake red target dots aimed at your forehead."

Tim frowned and looked around for the cause. He looked up and found the cause from one of the surrounding buildings. It wasn't a laser pen. "Get down."

"What?" Sarah asked.

"I said get down!" Tim repeated loudly before pulling his sister to the ground. Brad went down at the same time. Seconds later a shot rang out


	2. Chapter 2

About an hour later, Tim, Sarah, and Brad were back in the restaurant surrounded by other patrons and the Metro police, who had been called directly after the shooting.

"When are gonna be able to leave?' Sarah asked. She was really shaken right now. She had never been shot at before. It was kind of freaky.

Brad put his arm around her. "The police have to do a thorough investigation. We'll probably be able to go as soon as they talk to us."

Sarah looked over at her brother. "Tim, are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be? I wasn't hit," Tim said.

"You almost were. That gun was set on you. You could've been killed," Sarah said. That was freaking her out as well. If Brad hadn't noticed that target dot when he did, her brother would've died tonight.

That fact was not lost on Tim. It hit him hard that he had nearly been killed. He was a federal agent, but that didn't mean he was any less affected than anyone else at the prospect of being killed, especially since this time, he hadn't even seen the danger coming. When he was out in the field, a part of him always anticipated the possibility of being shot at. This had him completely off-guard. "I'm okay, Sarah, thanks to the two of you."

"I thought it was just some kid messing around. I never thought it was shooter," Brad said.

"No one does. It's not something you figure out unless you know what it look like," Tim said. As an agent, he knew that a laser could be from a sniper. That was why he instinctively looked to make sure. But if he had been a civilian, he would've thought the same way Brad and Sarah did.

Soon, a detective made his way over. "Hey, Folks. I'm Detective Jonas. Can I get some names?"

"Timothy McGee. This is my sister, Sarah," Tim said.

"And I'm Brad Collins," Brad added.

"Detective Jonas turned to Tim. "A couple of people said you were the one to notice the sniper. You probably saved someone from being killed."

"The person that would've been killed is him. The gun was aimed at my brother," Sarah said.

Jonas looked at you. "The gun was aimed at you? You were the target?"

"I don't know if I'd say I was the target. There may not have even been a specific target. It wouldn't be the first time that someone just started shooting to cause mayhem," Tim said. He wasn't ready to accept the possibility that he was a target. He was right now trying to convince himself that it was just a coincidence that he was the one with the target mark on his head. Of course, then he heard Gibbs' voice in his head telling him that there were no such things as coincidences. But why would anyone wanna kill him?

Tim could hear Gibbs' voice again after that thought. Hell, he could almost feel the head slap the man would give him as he told him he was a federal agent, which alone made him a target. He could also hear his father's voice immediately after tell him that being his son made him a target as well.

"That's true, but usually there are multiple shots. This shooter only fired once. How did you know the gun was aimed at you anyway?" Jonas asked.

"Well, Brad here noticed a red laser mark on my head. I looked up and say the light from a sniper rifle from across the street," Tim said.

Jonas looked at him with suspicion. "You know what the light from a sniper rifle looks like."

"Yeah. I'm a federal agent. I work for NCIS," Tim said.

He raised an eyebrow. "You're a fed and you don't think you were the target?"

Tim sighed and looked away without answering.

"Look, sir… Agent McGee, I get it. No one, even someone in law enforcement, wants to think about being the target of a killer, but I think you know you can't afford not to take this seriously. If it weren't for your friend here, you would've been killed tonight," Jonas said seriously.

"It actually wasn't about him being afraid of being a target. Obviously he didn't wanna be a target and it did make him uneasy to know that someone likely wanted him dead, but what really made him deny it was knowing how his life would change by it. So far, he'd managed to keep his work and family lives separate. If someone wanted to kill him, that would change. His life would become an open book to everyone at NCIS. They would learn who he really was and that would change everything. If it was random, he could forget about it and go on with his life. But it wasn't. Tim knew that deep down, and pretending it was could get him killed as well as his family.

Sarah pulled her brother close and whispered in his ear. "Tim, I know what you're worried about, but get over it! You were nearly killed tonight. You have to take that seriously! Screw your reputation. It's not as important as your life. Mom and Dad will agree on that. And don't think you're gonna hide it from them because I will tell them if I have to.

Tim sighed and turned back to the detective. "Okay, I'm taking it seriously. You're right, I probably was the target."

"Good. Have you been working on any sensitive cases at NCIS?" Jonas asked.

"Well, if I was, I couldn't tell you about it, but no. And there were no recent threats made against my life or my teammates'," Tim said anticipating the question.

"Okay, do you know of any other reason someone might try to kill you? Anyone with a personal grudge?" Jonas asked.

"My brother's the nicest person in the world. No one would hate him enough to do something like this," Sarah said.

"Yeah, I don't have any personal enemies. But my father does. He's an important man. He makes a lot of enemies on a daily basis. There are plenty of people out there that would wanna hurt him, and they certainly wouldn't care about going after him through his kids," Tim said. No one had ever come after his day through one of them, but that certainly didn't mean it wasn't possible. And while very few people knew him and Sarah were his kids, that didn't mean they couldn't find out.

"Who exactly is your father and why does he have so many enemies? Is he a politician?" Jonas.

Tim sighed. "No. My father is the director of NCIS. Leon Vance."


	3. Chapter 3

Leon and Jackie Vance were currently in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner. Leon was putting the leftovers away glancing over at his wife every once and a while.

Jackie smiled at him after a while. "What are you looking at?"

"My beautiful wife," Vance said as he made his way over to his wife. He then leaned forward and slowly began to kiss her.

The two were cut off by their youngest son's voice. "Mom, Dad."

They both sighed and turned to their son. "What's up, Jared?" Vance asked.

"The police are here," Jared said. He and his sister had seen a police car pull up when they were watching TV.

"What?" Jackie asked before running out of the room towards the front door. Vance and Jared were right behind her. When they got there, they found Tim and Sarah there with Kayla.

Jared's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and he ran to his brother. He loved both his older siblings to death, but he idolized his big brother. "Tim!"

"Hey, little bro," Tim said before bending down and pulling his brother into his arms.

"Hey, what about me? What am I chopped liver?" Sarah asked.

Jared smiled and went to hug his sister while Kayla hugged Tim.

"Okay, my turn," Jackie said as she made her way over and pulled her two oldest children into her arms. "You guys should've told us you were coming. We would've waited to eat."

"It was a last minute thing, Mom," Tim said before pulling away from his mother. He and Sarah had decided to come after the shooting to tell their parents what happened. A Metro squad car had dropped them off. "Besides, we already ate.

Jackie frowned after letting go of her children. She'd felt Sarah shake as she hugged her. She then looked at her son and noticed something in his eyes. Not many would pick up on it, but she was his mother. She knew something wasn't right. "Uh, Kayla and Jared, you have homework. Get to it."

Both children's faces fell. "But, Mom…"

"Don't 'but Mom' me Jared Vance. Upstairs, both of you," Jackie ordered sternly.

"It's alright, buddy. We're gonna be here a while," Tim assured his brother. They were probably going to be there indefinitely. His parents were likely to pressure them to stay until the shooter was found.

Knowing they had no choice, Kayla and Jared headed out of the room and towards the stairs.

Jackie waited for her two youngest to be completely out of hearing range before turning back to the two others. "Okay, what's going on, and don't tell me nothing because I know better. The two of you are off."

Tim took a deep breath. "Can we do this in the living room? You should both be sitting for this."

Vance didn't like the sound of that, but he led the way into the living room and they all sat down. Vance and Jackie sat on the couch while Tim and Sarah sat in the two chairs across from them. "Alright, what's going on? Tim, I just saw you a few hours ago. What could've happened in that time?"

"A lot, Dad. A lot. As I was leaving NCIS, I got a call from Sarah. She wanted me to meet her for dinner so she could introduce me to her new boyfriend," Tim sad.

Vance made a mental note to talk to his daughter about that later. Sarah might be an adult, but she was his baby girl and he reserved the right to find out everything about who she was seeing and make sure he was good enough.

Sarah glared at her brother. "Did you really have to mention that?"

Tim ignored her. "Dinner went okay. It was after dinner that things got interesting. There's really only one way to say this. Someone took a shot at me."

Jackie's eyes went wide with alarm. "What?"

"Someone shot at you?" Vance asked with both fear and anger in his voice. He was fearful because he could've lost his son and he was angry that someone had dared to try to harm one of his children. Anyone who knew him knew he was a hard ass when it came to work, but when it came to his family, there was no mercy whatsoever. Anyone who went after them would pay dearly.

"Yeah, outside the restaurant. It was a sniper," Tim said.

"Oh my God," Jackie said in fear. She just kept imagining her son being shot down without him even knowing what was happening. It caused a sharp pain to go through her heart. Tim and Sarah were as much her children as if she'd brought them into the world herself. She could no more fathom losing them than she could Jared or Kayla.

"Mom, it's okay. Look at me, I'm fine. We're both fine," Tim assured her.

"Someone tried to kill you. You're not fine," Jackie said.

"Were they trying to kill you, son. Were you the target or was this just someone trying to create mayhem?" Vance asked. It really didn't matter as far as dealing with this piece of crap. Either way, the bastard was going to pay dearly, but if Tim was a target, Vance had to make sure he was protected.

Tim sighed. "I'd like to say it was mayhem motivated. I tried to tell myself and the police that when it first happened. But I don't think that was it. The gun was pointed at me. Sarah's boyfriend noticed a target dot on my head. Man, if he hadn't, I would've been killed. There's no way I would've noticed in time without his help."

"Oh, Jesus," Jackie whispered in fear and horror.

"Honey, it's okay. He's alright and he's gonna stay that way," Vance assured his wife before turning to his children. "You two are staying here until we figure this out and I'm calling Gibbs."

Tim groaned. He was afraid of that. "Do we have to involve Gibbs?" He didn't want Gibbs to know. Gibbs would find out about his parentage if he did and so would the rest of NCIS. It wasn't that he was ashamed of who his parents were. Far from it. He loved his parents very much. He loved them as though they were his parents from the day he was born. They might as well have been. They were better than his biological parents could ever have been, even his biological mother whom he loved and missed very dearly. But his father was the director of the agency he worked at. If people knew that, everything would change. They would think he got his job by being the director's son. They would think he didn't belong. Hell, some people already thought he didn't belong.

"Yes, Tim, he does because I'm going to be giving him point in this investigation, with me there to assist every step of the way," Vance said. He'd take lead if he could, but he knew SecNav would put an end to that. SecNav knew that Tim was his son. He'd had to disclose when he'd stepped forward as Director so that no one could accuse him of preferential treatment. "Look, I understand why you don't want anyone to know. I agreed to keep it a secret because I wanted you to be able to make your way at NCIS without being accused of being handed everything you've gotten. But all bets are off now. I care more about your life than I do about what a few idiots will think, and you should feel the same. The people that matter will know that you earned what you have."

"Your father's right. This is not something that will be played around with, Timothy. Gibbs will be told so that he can help us protect you," Jackie said firmly.

Tim nodded after a minute. He still didn't like it, but he realized he had no choice.

"I'm gonna go call Gibbs. I want protection set up immediately," Vance said before leaving the room.


	4. Chapter 4

An hour later, Tim was still sitting in the living room. Sarah had gone upstairs to keep Kayla and Jared busy. Tim watched as his mother shut all the windows and closed the windows. "Mom, there's no one out there."

"You don't know that. I'll bet you didn't think anyone was out there ready to shoot you earlier either," Jackie said as she continued what she was doing.

Tim sighed. He thought about saying that even if there were someone out there, shutting and the windows and shades wouldn't keep bullets out, but the last thing he wanted was to scare his mother even more. Instead, he stood up and walked over to his mother. He took her lightly by the arm so she was facing him. "Mom, it's okay."

Jackie looked at her son for a moment and then pulled him into her arms. "I can't lose you."

"You won't," Tim promised.

Jackie took a deep breath and pulled away. She needed to get herself together. She'd had her moment of weakness, but now she needed to be strong for her son. "You're damn right I won't. You're gonna do everything your father and Gibbs tell you, Got it?"

Tim smiled. He never thought he'd say it, but preferred it when she was barking out orders. That meant she would be okay. "Yes, ma'am."

"Alright, I'm going to go make sure the kids are away from the windows until protection gets here," Jackie said before leaving the room.

Just then there was a knock at the door.

Tim felt a knot develop in the pit of his stomach. He knew that was Gibbs and that he would have to tell the man the truth. He knew Gibbs wasn't going to be happy. If nothing else, he was going to be annoyed at it being kept from him for so long. Tim just hoped that was all he'd be mad about.

Vance came from the kitchen at that moment. "I got it. I'm gonna talk to him outside for a minute."

Tim nodded and sat down on the couch. He propped his feet up on the table and leaned back in an attempt to relax.

Vance, meanwhile, opened the front door and stepped outside. Unsurprisingly, Gibbs was there. "Hey, Gibbs. Thanks for coming."

"What's going on, Leon? What happened to your policy?" Gibbs asked. The first and only other time he'd gone to the director's house, the man hadn't been happy. He'd told Gibbs that he didn't like mixing work with his family.

"It went out the window a couple of hours ago," Vance said. Actually, if you wanted to get technical, it went out the window the minute Tim joined NCIS. That was the moment his work and his family started mixing. Still, he tried to keep work and family as separated as possible, and it had worked until now. "Someone tried to kill my son tonight."

Gibbs was both surprised and infuriated by what Vance had just told him. He'd met Vance's little boy. He was no older than ten. If there was one thing he hated, it was people who went after kids. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine. I know what you're thinking. It's not Jared," Vance said.

Gibbs frowned slightly. "You got another son I don't know about?"

"Yes, I do. I have four children, Gibbs. Though two of them can't technically be considered children. They're well over eighteen," Vance said.

"So your other son is the one that was attacked," Gibbs said. He'd recovered quickly from learning Vance had other children besides the two he'd met. After all, he didn't really know the director that well, so it wasn't too surprising to learn something new.

"Yeah. My two oldest kids had just had dinner. They were shot at coming out by a sniper," Vance said.

"And you're sure your boy was the target?" Gibbs asked.

"Positive. There was a laser on the gun and it was pointed right at him. The only reason he's alive is because someone he was with noticed. If not for that, he would've been killed," Vance said. It really got to him. In fact, the more time that passed, the more he realized just how close he came to losing his son. It was almost debilitating to think about. If he'd lost Tim tonight… He didn't even wanna think about what it would've done to him. He wasn't sure he could've survived it.

Gibbs could see that Vance was affected by the near loss of his son. The man was trying to hide it, and he was doing a relatively good job, but it was there. He couldn't completely hide it. "Any idea why someone would wanna hurt your son?"

"Well, I'm his father. That alone is enough to make him enemies," Vance said. He knew that there were plenty of people out there who would wanna hurt Tim simply because he was his son. That was why he wanted both him and Sarah close. His entire family could be in danger. "But there are other reasons this could've happened. He's an agent, Gibbs. My son works for NCIS."

Now that surprised Gibbs. He would've thought that if Vance had a son working for NCIS that everyone would know about it. "Your son works for you."

"He does. SecNav knows about it. He's alright with it as long as there's no nepotism detected. No one else at NCIS knows because he doesn't carry my name," Vance said. Tim and Sarah both carried their biological mother's name as a tribute to her. Tim had wanted that. He had been worried that by getting adopted, he was betraying his mother, so they'd all decided them him and Sarah would take her last name.

"Do I know him?" Gibbs couldn't help but wonder. If Vance's son really did work for NCIS, there was a good chance Gibbs did know him. It made him wonder who it was.

"You do. You'll probably be pretty shocked when you see him. Before that happens though, I want something understood," Vance said. He'd said the last part in his touch, ruthless director voice. "My son is no different than any other agent. He filled out an application, he went through the FLETC training, and he started off at the bottom. I didn't lift a finger help him."

"I get the point, Leon. Your son wasn't favored," Gibbs said.

"And I won't have him treated like he was. I won't have you or anyone else disrespecting him, but claiming he didn't earn what he has," Vance said firmly. He doubted Gibbs would think such a thing, especially since he was the one to hire Tim for his team, but he wanted it made clear anyway.

"Understood, Director," Gibbs said.

"Good. Come inside," Vance said before opening the door and leading the way inside.

Gibbs followed Vance inside the house. He stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he made it all the way inside. McGee was sitting on the couch looking mighty comfortable in Vance's house.


	5. Chapter 5

Gibbs was beyond shocked. The last thing he expected when he entered the Vance Home was to find McGee there looking mighty comfortable. Well, maybe comfortable was the wrong word. He did look pretty nervous, but it seemed more like it was Gibbs himself that made him uneasy rather than the environment. The younger man wasn't fazed by the environment at all. He was sitting on the couch with his feet wresting against the table like it was a common occurrence, like it was home.

It wasn't difficult to connect the dots. He'd come in to meet and NCIS agent that was also Vance's son, an agent he was supposed to know. He just never thought that agent would not only be a member of his team, but McGee. It was beyond surprising. Neither Vance nor McGee ever let anything slip that they were father and son. They never even hinted that they knew each other outside of the job.

Tim regarded his boss nervously. It had been several seconds since his boss entered the house. He kept waiting for the other man to say something, but all he did was continue to stare at him. Finally, Tim decided to break the ice. "Hi, Boss."

"I guess you're a better liar than I thought," Gibbs said. He always considered McGee to be a horrible liar, but that obviously wasn't true. He'd been lying for years.

"Gibbs," Vance warned.

"I didn't lie, Boss. I just didn't tell you who my parents really were. I told you my father was Navy. I think working for NCIS counts," Tim said.

Gibbs glared at his agent. "Don't play that game with me, McGee. You kept it from me." It wasn't that he thought he needed to know everything or that he was entitled to. He knew there were things his agents didn't tell him and he didn't expect him to. What got him was that McGee hadn't trusted him with the information

"It wasn't your business, Gibbs," Vance said with a glare of his own.

"It's okay, Dad. Yeah, I kept it a secret because I knew how I would be treated if I didn't. My father was still really high up when I joined NCIS. If I had told you I was his son back then, you would've assumed that I got in because of who my father was, especially given how green I was back then. But that's not what happened. No doors were opened for me. I unlocked and opened every single one of them myself," Tim said. He wanted to make that clear. He didn't want anyone, especially Gibbs, thinking he didn't earn what he had.

"You think I don't know that, McGee. I hired you for my team. No one pressured me into that. I hired you because I saw good in you and rule five exists for a reason. I know no one paved your way. I know because I watched how hard you worked to become the agent you are. You put up with DiNozzo's crap when a few words could've ended it all," Gibbs said. All McGee would've had to say was that he was Vance's son for DiNozzo's crap to be nipped in the bud, but he never did. He never once used his father's name to up his career or make things easier for him. Gibbs was proud of him for that. He was still kind of angry and hurt that his agent didn't trust him, but he certainly didn't think any less of the man for who his father happened to be.

"Believe me, the first time I heard his crap, I wanted to put a stop to it, especially after the Iraq business," Vance said. Contrary to what he'd said to Tim that day, he knew very well that DiNozzo had tricked his son into not volunteering for the Iraq trip. Though Tim wasn't going to volunteer anyway because Vance had made it clear he would not send him. Impropriety be damned, he wasn't sending his kid to Iraq. He would never let him risk his life like that. Not to mention that Jackie would've killed him if he even considered it."

"You weren't going to send me to Iraq," Tim said. Despite what Tony thought, he wasn't the reason Tim didn't volunteer. Truth be told, he did volunteer. He went to see his father right after he announced that he was looking for candidates. The second he entered the director's office, his father said 'no'. Tim didn't even get the chance to open his mouth.

"That's beside the point. DiNozzo had no business screwing with you that way," Vance said.

Gibbs watched the exchange between Vance and McGee. They were so at ease. He'd never seen or heard McGee so comfortable around someone. The fact that it was the director made it even more weird. But it made sense with the new information he had. They were father and son. Of course they would be so comfortable around each other. Sons felt comfortable around their fathers as long as they had good ones, and McGee did. No matter what Gibbs might think of Vance as a director, he'd seen him around his kids. He was a good father.

Tim turned back to Gibbs. "Thanks, Boss, for knowing that I earned what I have." He was very relieved by that. He wanted to believe Gibbs would see that he deserved everything he had, but he couldn't be sure.

Gibbs sat down in one of the chairs across from the couch. "You really thought I'd think anything else?"

"I hoped you wouldn't, but I couldn't be sure. And I realized that even if you didn't think less of me if you learned the truth, a lot of other people would. There are people at NCIS that already don't think I belong," Tim said. He'd heard what some of the other agents said when they thought he couldn't hear them. They thought he was useless. That he should be in Cyber Crimes or be given the boot.

"They're idiots," Gibbs said simply. Anybody who said that crap wasn't worth a damn. McGee belonged on his team. He wouldn't be there if he didn't.

"Maybe, but I worked too hard to be accused of getting preferential treatment," Tim said.

"So you were never going to tell me," Gibbs said. It wasn't a question.

"No," Tim replied.

Just then, Jackie came into the room. She immediately took in her son's position. "Okay, there must be something wrong with my sight because there's no way your feet are on my coffee table."

Tim blushed and immediately removed his feet. "Sorry, Mom."

Jackie sat down beside her son and turned to Gibbs. "Thanks for coming. We really need your help."

With that comment, Gibbs was brought back to the reality of why he'd been called to the Vance residence. He'd momentarily forgotten due to the surprise that his agent was Vance's son. It was time to get down to business. McGee needed protection.

It was then that it hit Gibbs. Someone was trying to kill his agent. That pissed him off. Some bastard was out there plotting the death of one of his people. Whoever it was, was going wish they were never born once he was done with them. "Tell me what happened."

Tim told the story once more about what happened at the restaurant. "I tried to tell myself that it wasn't me, that the killer just wanted to hurt anyone and that it was just a coincidence that he chose me."

"Rule thirty-nine," Gibbs said.

Jackie looked at her husband in confusion. She wasn't sure what the whole thing meant.

"Don't ask, baby," Vance said.

"How do you wanna handle this, Leon? We should go forward with the thought that it's about you," Gibbs said.

"And that means my entire family could be in danger," Vance said before looking at his wife.

The two seemed to have a silent conversation before Jackie finally spoke. "Whatever you think is best."

Vance turned back to Gibbs. "Guards around the clock until this is over."

Tim sighed unhappily. He wanted to argue. He really didn't want for them all to resorted to having guards follow them around, but his dad was right. This might not just be about him. He had to think about his mom and his younger siblings. They needed to be protected.

"The team is going to have to be brought up to speed as well. Not only will they be needed to figure this out, but if this isn't about you, Leon, it might be about us and they might be in danger too," Gibbs said.

Vance nodded.

"I'll get protection over here now," Gibbs said before getting up and leaving the room.


	6. Chapter 6

Gibbs finished making his calls outside and then stepped back inside the Vance house. He walked back into the living room and found Vance there alone. "Where's Tim?"

"Helping Jackie in the kitchen. Jackie's best way of keeping calm is to keep busy, so she's probably cleaning. Tim's in there helping her, both with cleaning and with keeping calm," Vance said.

"I got four agents on the way to work protection detail. Two agents will take the exits and two will sit in a car out front just in case," Gibbs said. It was a little more than what they'd usually do, but Tim was one of his and he was going to make sure every protection possible was given to him.

"Good. I've always tried not to favor my son when it comes to work, that's out the window now. I want my son protected no matter what the cost," Vance said.

"He will be. Anything floating off the top of your head about who might put a hit out on your son to get to you?" Gibbs asked. It still felt weird to refer to McGee as Vance's son. He'd known for less than an hour that that was what he was, so it still hadn't completely sunk in.

"I make a lot of enemies, Gibbs. I'm the director of a government agency. I deal with people all over the world, and a lot of those people don't like the decisions I make. Any of them could be responsible. I can't think of just one off the top of my head," Vance said.

Gibbs sat down in a chair across form Vance. "Well, whoever it was must have been watching him. That's the only way they could've known were he'd be."

Vance thought for a minute. "You're right. Tim didn't even know he was gonna be at that restaurant until after he left NCIS. Sarah ambushed him with her boyfriend."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Ambushed?"

Vance smirked. "Let's just say the men in this family are very overprotective. No one who dates my daughter gets away with anything less than an extensive interrogation, threats from both me and Tim, and complete background check."

Gibbs nodded curtly. He had a feeling he'd have been the same way. If Kelly had lived long enough to date, he was positive he would've reacted the same way to anyone she dated. He was, however, a little surprised that Tim would react that way. Tim was protective of his sister, but he wasn't the type to get macho and threaten people. "You I can, but it's hard to see McGee act that way."

"Don't let my son fool you. He may be nervous around certain people and he's the kindest person you ever met most of the time, but when someone he loves is on the line, he will show you just how protective he can be," Vance said.

"So you've never met this guy before?" Gibbs asked.

"Not yet, but I will. At the very least, I owe him a thank you for saving my son," Vance said. He hated it, but he might just have to give this guy a break that he never gave any of Sarah's other boyfriends since he'd saved Tim's life.

"Well, you'll get the chance. I wanna talk to him myself, find out what happened from his point of view. Uh, I called Tony and Ziva. Like I said before, this could be about a case we worked, so as soon as they're brought up to speed, I'm going to have them look into old case files," Gibbs said.

"There's someone else I need you to look into," Vance said before looking around to make sure no one was around. "His name's is John McGee. I don't expect it to be him. He should still be in prison, but just in case it is him, I want you to check him out."

"Tim and Sarah's father," Gibbs guessed.

"_I'm_ their father," Vance bit out defensively. He couldn't help it. Whenever someone referred to that piece of crap as Tim and Sarah's father, he got extremely pissed. He was never a father to them. Sarah never even met him.

"Wasn't trying to imply otherwise, Leon," Gibbs said. That was as close to an apology as he gave anyone. He had misspoken. He should've said birth father or something like that.

Vance nodded. "McGee supplied his DNA to create Tim and Sarah, but that's as far as it goes. Sarah never met him and Tim wishes he never did."

"He abused him," Gibbs said. It wasn't a question. He was breaking his rule about assuming, but it was pretty clear. McGee was in prison and from what Vance was saying, it was obvious he did something to his son.

Vance nodded. "He's a worthless son of a bitch! He beat Tim and his mother every day. Melissa was a friend of mine. We grew up together. The day she introduced me to McGee, I knew something wasn't right about him. But I told myself it wouldn't last. I figured he'd be gone in less than a month. But he wasn't. He was good at manipulating people. He managed to get her to count on only him, as all abusers do. It wasn't long before she found out she was pregnant either.

Gibbs sighed sadly. He was thinking of his agent being in that position and he hated it. No child should ever be born in the middle of that kind of hell, but it made Gibbs sad and angry as hell that someone he cared about was. "How long did it go on for?"

"For Tim? Seven years. Melissa was pregnant with Sarah when it finally reached the final escalation. McGee beat her so bad that she nearly miscarried. If Tim hadn't picked up the phone and called me, he probably would've killed her and the baby," Vance said.

"So that's how it happened? You got custody after that?" Gibbs asked.

"No. That didn't happen for a few more years. I finally convinced Melissa to press charges. I did have to threaten to take Tim from her though," Vance said. He would've too. He would've found a way to get Tim out of that hellhole. He would've done it earlier too, but he could never prove what was going on. He knew it was happening, but there was no actual proof until the last incident. "Anyway, Melissa developed cancer a couple years later and it claimed her. That's when I got custody. She left me guardianship. I adopted them a year later.

"Why do Tim and Sarah have his name?" Gibbs asked. Those two kids should've been given Vance's name. They were his in every way that could ever matter. They shouldn't have the name of their abuser.

"Tim wanted to keep it in honor of his mother. She was still 'McGee' when she died. She never filed for divorce. I guess she could never fully let go of him. Tim was still young and he didn't really understand that his mother had another last name before getting married. Also, it was his grandfather's name. Tim loved both of his grandparents very much," Vance said. To this day, Tim had a good relationship with his grandmother, just as he had with his grandfather before he died. They were nothing like their son, so Vance didn't keep them apart.

"It doesn't affect him to say it every day?" Gibbs asked surprised.

"It doesn't seem to, probably because of his grandfather. Keeping the name was just his way of saying that even though he was adopted, the family he had before was still his family," Vance said.

Just then there was a knock on the door.

"That's either the protection detail or Tony and Ziva," Gibbs said.

Vance nodded and got up to answer the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Tony arrived at Vance's house about a half an hour after Gibbs called him. He knew the man was going to be pissed. He told him ten minutes. Unfortunately, he'd been out with a girl and had to drop her off. That alone had taken ten minutes. It took another twenty to get over to Vance's house.

Tony quickly packed the car on the side of the street and got out. In front of him, Ziva was also getting out. He immediately went over to her. "Hey. Any idea what this is about?" It was not every day they got called the director's house. This was a first actually. It meant that something big had gone down.

"Not at all. Gibbs just told me to get down here and then he hung up," Ziva said.

"Same here. Well, we better get inside before he kills us," Tony said. He then looked around the property. "Well, it looks like McGee hasn't gotten here yet, so he'll be killed more than we will."

Ziva rolled her eyes at Tony's antics and followed Tony to the door.

When they got to the door, Tony rang the bell and waited for an answer. He didn't have long to wait because the door was opened seconds later by Vance. "Hello, Director."

"DiNozzo, David. Come in," Vance said before stepping aside to let them in.

Tony and Ziva walked inside and followed Vance into the living room where Gibbs was with McGee and a couple of other agents. Tony recognized both agents as those who worked mostly protective detail. "Boss?"

Gibbs looked over and glared at both Tony and Ziva. "What the hell took you two so long? I said ten minutes!"

"I had to drop my date off first. I went as fast as I could, but it still took time," Tony said before looking at Tim. "And how are you here? I didn't see your car out front."

"Let's just say I got my own means of transportation," Tim said. Metro had dropped him and Sarah off because they were worried it wasn't safe for him to drive anywhere alone, and they weren't exactly wrong.

"What is going on, Gibbs?" Ziva asked.

Gibbs turned to the two agents assigned for protection. "You two get to your posts. The other team should be here shortly and they'll be parked out front."

"Got it, sir," one of the agents said before headed in opposite directions towards the front and back doors.

"Is somebody after you, Director?" Tony asked Vance. He thought that had to be the case. Why else would protection be put up around the house?

"No. They're after me," Tim said. He supposed they could be after his father, but it was him they were gunning for specifically.

"What?" Ziva and Tony asked in unison.

"Someone shot at me tonight," Tim said.

"Oh my God! Are you alright, McGee?" Ziva asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I wasn't it, though it came very close," Tim said. As much as he hated to admit it, it still shook him how close he came to dying. If Sarah's boyfriend had just been a few seconds later in noticing, he would be dead right now.

"Who would wanna kill you?" Tony asked.

"The same thousand people that would wanna kill any one of us, DiNozzo," Gibbs said.

"Yeah, but why'd they go after him. I'd think they'd come after you first, Boss," Tony said.

"Wait, if McGee is the one in danger, why is protection being set up at the director's house?" Ziva asked in confusion. It did not make sense. It should be McGee's house they were securing, not the director's.

Tim shifted uncomfortably and took a deep breath. "We're securing this house because this is where I'll be staying in the near future."

"Why?" Tony asked confused. He couldn't think of any conceivable reason for McGee to stay with the director's family. He couldn't even see McGee being okay with that. The man got nervous around anyone with authority. He was going to be on eggshells in Vance's home.

"Because it's my home too," Tim said. He didn't live there and hadn't grown up there, as he was raised in Chicago and then in San Diego, but it was his family's home and he and Sarah were there all the time, so he considered it home.

"What?" Tony and Ziva both asked.

"There… There are some things you don't know about me. The biggest is that I was adopted. After my mother died, Sarah and I were adopted by our godfather, Leon Vance," Tim said. There, he'd said it. It was hard. Tony and Ziva were the first people he'd actually told himself. Gibbs had been told by his father. He'd just had to deal with the reaction. Tony and Ziva he'd had to tell himself and it was hard to get the words out because he knew they'd be upset.

Tony looked at Tim for a minute and then laughed. "Nice one, Probie. Who knew you had a sense of humor."

"Does anybody look like they're laughing, DiNozzo?" Vance asked.

Tony's smile faded after a minute and he looked back at Tim. "Y…You're his kid? You're the director's son? You lied to us!"

Tim wasn't surprised by the reaction. He'd gotten the same reaction from Gibbs. "I didn't lie. I just didn't tell you."

"Why? You don't think we deserved to know? I think I deserved to know that I was working beside the director's kid!" Tony yelled.

"Tony, stop," Ziva said. She was shocked by this information as well and she was also a little hurt that McGee didn't tell them, but she understood it. She knew what it was like to work at an agency where your father was the director. She could see why her friend and colleague wouldn't want anyone to know.

"You better damn well stop," Gibbs said. He understood to a certain extent why Tony was upset, as he had been too, but the things Tony was saying were very close to what Tim was afraid of in the first place. He was acting like somehow Tim was different than the rest of them.

"First of all, he was not the director at the time I came to work for NCIS. He's been director less than a year," Tim said.

"He was still high up! He could make things happen. He could…"

"He could what! Make things happen for me? Put my career on the fast track? Don't even think of accusing me of that! I worked my ass off to get to where I am! As Gibbs so elegantly put it not too long ago, I put up with all your crap for years and I never said a world! I was given the worst jobs we had all because I was a probie and I did them without complaint. You really think I would've done all that if my father paved my way? I earned everything I have!" Tim yelled. He was so riled up that he didn't even notice his mother and Sarah come in from downstairs.

"Of course you did. Who's saying otherwise?" Jackie asked. She'd come in while her son was mid rant. All she'd heard was that someone was claiming Leon had streamlined Tim's career, just as he feared. She didn't know who it was, but whoever it was, was about to get a piece of her mind."

Everyone in the room was glaring at Tony, telling Jackie exactly who it was.

Jackie looked glared at Tony and advanced on him. "You accusing my son of taking the easy way out?"

"I…"

"Let me tell you something. My kids are not spoiled. They may have opportunities that others have, but they have never had anything handed to them! Tim has worked for everything he ever got!" Jackie said angrily.

Tony backed up as Jackie continued to advance on him. "Mrs. Vance, I didn't…"

"You think my son got into MIT and John's Hopkins because of Leon? Well, he didn't! I got all of that because he worked for it! The same with his job at NCIS. Leon would never pave Tim's way and Tim would never let him! So don't you ever accuse my son of not deserving what he has, do you understand me?" Jackie asked.

"Y…yes, Ma'am," Tony stuttered. He'd been yelled at a lot in his life, but he'd never been so intimidated by it as he was just now. Vance's wife was one frightening woman.

"DiNozzo, I suggest you take a walk and pull your head out of your ass before someone tears it off!" Gibbs said with a glare. They were all angry. He was, so were Leon and Tim, but none of that compared Jackie's anger obviously. She was ready to kill Tony. Gibbs wasn't surprised. It was clear she was very protective of her kids.

Tony didn't need to be told twice. He knew one false move and Mrs. Vance would likely kill him, so he headed towards the door.


	8. Chapter 8

After Tony left, Tim went into the kitchen to cool off. Usually, he'd go for a walk himself, but he knew neither his parents nor Gibbs was going to allow that, not when there was a price on his head. So he settled for taking a few minutes in the kitchen to himself.

Tim sat down at the table. He was still reeling from his spat with Tony. He had been so angry before, but now he was hurt. He always knew that people who think the worst of him if they found out who his father was, but he hoped his team would stick by him. He worried about it in the back of his mind, but he hoped that that worry would turn out to be false. It cut deeply that Tony had been the first to prove him right about the way people would see him.

"McGee?"

Tim turned around to see Ziva in the doorway. "Are you next?"

Ziva went over and sat down across from her friend. "No, I am not next. I came to see if you were alright."

Tim laughed humorlessly. "Well, let's just say I've had better days." First he had someone try to kill him and now he had a colleague turn against him. No, today was not his best day.

"He did not mean it, McGee. He is just angry that you kept it from us," Ziva said. She made no excuse for what Tony had said. He was wrong to allude to the notion that Tim had not earned his place at NCIS, but she doubted he meant it. He had to know that McGee earned his place, for every reason that Jackie Vance mentioned. McGee had worked very hard to earn his place. Even after she had gotten there, he was still working to gain respect, especially Tony's. Tony had to see that. That was why she couldn't believe he actually believed what he'd said.

"I think he did. I think he meant every word. What about you? What do you think?" Tim asked.

Ziva sighed. "I cannot deny being hurt that you did not trust us, but I understand why. I know why you did not tell us. I get it."

"You do?" Tim asked.

Ziva nodded. "You and I are a lot alike, McGee, more so than I ever could've imagined. Our personalities differ of course, but our circumstances couldn't be more the same. We both have important fathers, we both chose to follow in their footsteps, and they both became our bosses."

Tim couldn't believe it, but he hadn't thought about that before. Ziva really did know exactly how he felt. She was the only one he worked with that could. She knew what it meant to be the director's kid. "At Mossad, did people look at you the way Tony looked at me today?"

"You are asking if I was treated different because I was the director's daughter. Yes, I was. People looked at me either with fear because of it or with resentment. There were those that wondered if I belonged. It never lasted long after they saw me in action, but it was there and it was difficult," Ziva said.

Tim sighed and leaned back in his chair. "That's what I was trying to avoid, you know? I don't wanna be just the director's son. I wanna be respected for my actions. I knew that wouldn't happen if people knew the truth."

"I understand. If I could've hid who I was from everyone I worked with at Mossad, I probably would have as well. Look, Tony will come around. He will realize that he was wrong to say what he did to you. As for the rest, they do not matter," Ziva said.

"Tony matters, Ziva. His opinion matters to me and he sees me as someone who doesn't deserve what he has," Tim said. He then got up and headed out of the room.

Ziva thought about trying to stop him, but there really wasn't much more she could say, so she let him go.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tony was standing by his car outside the Vance house. He'd gone for his walk, actually, he'd gone for more than one. All it seemed to do was make him more angry. McGee had made a fool out of him, out of all of them really, but mostly him. Every time he made a joke or played a practical joke on McGee, he was digging himself a whole with Vance and McGee knew it. McGee said he hadn't said anything, but he probably did. He was probably telling Daddy everything he did. That was probably why Vance disliked him so much.

Tony's thoughts were cut off when he heard Vance's front door open. He looked up to see Ziva headed his way."

Ziva made her way over to Tony. "Good, you're here. I thought I was going to have to come look for you. Gibbs wants us to go home for the night. Tomorrow, we will be going to McGee's apartment to see if there is any sign of anyone watching him.""

"Fine," Tony said before standing up straight and walking around to the driver's side of the car to get in.

"You were an ass, Tony," Ziva said irritably.

Tony stopped what he was doing and stared at Ziva in disbelief. "Me? He's the one that's done nothing but lie to us for years!"

"He did not lie! He simply did not tell us who his parents were. Have you told us everything about your family?" Ziva asked.

"That's different! My father is not the director of NCIS! I had the right to know that!" Tony yelled.

"Why? Why did you have the right to know?" Ziva asked.

"Because it affects me! It affects the way the director sees me!" Tony said angrily.

"What? Oh, I get it. This is not about McGee or him hiding the truth from us. This is about you being unable to keep yourself from acting like a juvenile ass," Ziva realized.

"If I had known…"

"You would not have acted like such a juvenile ass with McGee? You shouldn't have needed to know for that," Ziva said before walked away from Tony and towards her car.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day, Gibbs pulled up to the house of Penelope Langston. He'd gotten her information from Tim's file. He'd put her down as an emergency contact. It made sense. She was his grandmother. He couldn't put the Vance's down because it would oust his secret. Besides, they would've known if anything happened to him right away anyway.

Gibbs parked, got out of the car, and went to the front door. He knocked and waited for an answer.

Seconds later an older woman with short, curly dark hair answered the door. She looked rushed and a bit annoyed. "Whatever you want, make it quick. I'm on my way out."

Gibbs took out his badge and held it out up for her. "Special Agent Gibbs, NC…"

"What's wrong with Timothy?" Penny demanded. She knew who the man in front of her was as soon as he introduced himself. Her grandson had told her all about the people he worked with.

"Don't recall saying anything was," Gibbs said.

Penny narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't toy with me, Agent Gibbs. Timothy is my grandson. If something has happened to him, I demand to know what it is."

"He's fine. I'm here to ask you about your son," Gibbs said. He'd done what Leon asked and contacted the prison John McGee was in. He'd been released from prison a year ago and had dropped off the grid. He was hoping the Langston woman knew where he was.

Penny's face darkened. "I don't have a son. My son is dead. That piece of garbage that resembles him is in prison where he belongs."

"Not anymore. He was released a year ago," Gibbs said.

Penny stared at him for a moment and then walked inside, leaving the door open for Gibbs to follow. "Whose idiotic decision was that?"

Gibbs walked inside, closed the door and followed Penny through the living room and into the kitchen. "You're telling me you didn't know?"

Penny went over the cabinet and pulled out a couple of coffee mugs. "Coffee."

Gibbs nodded curtly. He was never one to turn down coffee.

Penny went over to the coffee pot and began pouring two cups of coffee. "I haven't seen nor heard from John since the day he was carted off to prison. He never tried to contact me, probably because he knew it wouldn't be well received."

"That's quite a thing to say about your own son," Gibbs commented. He wasn't judging her, just making an observation. He'd seen this kind of situation before and a lot of times the families sided with their abusing relatives.

Penny handed him his coffee and took a sip of her own. "It's no less than he deserves. I know people say that you're supposed to stand by your kids no matter what, but those people obviously never had a son like John. When Timothy was five, John cracked his skull."

Gibbs barely managed to stop from flinching. He knew from Leon that Tim had been abused, but knowing that was different then hearing that his bastard father had actually injured him so severely. He was picturing a five-year-old child being beaten so badly that his skull was cracked. It made him wanna crack someone else's skull. "So you knew he was being abused and you didn't do anything."

"Yes, I knew he was being abused, so did my husband and Timothy's godfather. We pleaded with Melissa every time to stop it, but she wouldn't even admit it was happening. She and John both claimed Timothy fell. No one could prove them wrong," Penny said sadly.

Gibbs was absolutely disgusted. He knew that women could be really stupid when it came to covering for their abusive husbands, but how she protect the man who was abusing her son? How could she sit back while her little boy was being tortured like that?

"It wasn't until that last incident that we were finally able to put a stop to it. Timothy admitted to Le… his godfather what his father had been doing," Penny said. She'd cut herself off mid-sentence because she was about to say Leon's name and she knew her grandson didn't want anyone at NCIS knowing about their connection. It was clear that Gibbs knew some of Timothy's history, but if he didn't know his connection to Leon, she wasn't going to tell him.

"That was a brave thing to do," Gibbs said as he took a sip of his coffee. It took a lot of courage for a seven-year-old boy to admit that his father was abusing him.

"Yes, it was. Timothy is nothing if not brave. I'm sure you find that hard to believe with how he was when he first came to you. He told me he was nervous and stuttered a lot. You can thank John for that. Timothy got a good life after John was sent to prison, but what his father did to him was always with him," Penny said.

"I always knew he was brave. Just didn't know how brave," Gibbs said. He'd always seen McGee… no, Tim, as brave. He wouldn't call him McGee anymore. He wouldn't even think of him like that. He knew Tim had chosen to keep the name to honor some of his family members, but Gibbs refused to associate him with the man that tortured him as a child. He would be Tim from here on out.

"Has John approached Timothy? Is that why you're asking about him?" Penny asked.

"No, but I wanna make sure it stays that way. I'm not gonna let him be victimized by the bastard again," Gibbs said. He wasn't going to tell her about the shooting. That was for Tim to do if he so decided.

"Well, on that we agree, Agent Gibbs. I need to inform Timothy and Sarah's adoptive parents about this," Penny said. Leon and Jackie needed know that John was out so that they could protect Timothy and Sarah if need be. Timothy was more than capable of defending himself, but John didn't play fair. He would find a way to get to him. Leon and Jackie needed to be prepared. Although, Leon might already know since Gibbs seemed to.

"No need. I'm headed there right now to tell them myself," Gibbs said. He hadn't yet told the Vance's that McGee was out of prison, but that was his next stop.

"So then you know about Timothy's father?" Penny asked.

Gibbs nodded. "Don't think any less of him."

"Good. I would have to give you a piece or two of my mind if you did. Find John and make sure he can't hurt my grandchildren again, Gibbs."

"That's a promise," Gibbs said. Even if McGee wasn't responsible for the attempt on Tim's life, he was going to find him. He was not going to let that bastard hurt Tim ever again.


	10. Chapter 10

Vance opened his front door to see Gibbs on the other side. "Gibbs, come in."

"Leon," Gibbs greeted as he walked inside

Vance closed the door behind him. "You have anything?"

"On Tim's shooter, I'm not sure, but there's something you need to know. Uh, where is everyone?" Gibbs asked. He didn't wanna say anything if Vance's younger children were nearby, or even Tim for that matter. That was something he should hear from Leon when they were alone

"Finishing up breakfast. What is it I need to know?" Vance asked.

"McGee's out of prison. He was released a year ago," Gibbs said. He waited for the fallout. He knew Vance was not going to be happy about this information.

"A year? He's been out a year?! Why am I just hearing about this now?!" Vance asked angrily. He hadn't really thought McGee was released. He'd only had Gibbs check into it because he wanted to cover every angle. He thought he'd find out that John McGee was still rotting in prison like deserved.

"Someone obviously dropped the ball," Tim said.

"You think?!" Vance yelled angrily. He was seriously pissed right now. He should've been notified as soon as McGee was released, or at the very least, Tim should've been. You didn't just let someone like that go without informing his victims and their families. "Where the hell is he?"

"Don't know. I'm looking for him now. I just got back from talking to his mother. I thought she might know where he was," Gibbs said.

Vance shook his head, immediately rejecting the idea. "No, if Penny even knew he was out of prison, he would've told me, or she would've told Tim at least. She testified at John's trial. She helped to put him away. She and her husband both turned their backs on him when he nearly killed Melissa and Sarah. They would've done it sooner, but Tim was still stuck in that house.

"Yeah, I know. Miss Langston made it very clear that she wouldn't be helping her son in any way," Gibbs said. He believed her too. He had no doubt that a mother would lie for her son, but this mother wasn't doing that. She didn't even seem to like her son, not that he could blame her.

"I want the bastard found, Gibbs. He did this," Vance was sure. There was no way this was a coincidence. John McGee had at least a hand in what happened with his kids the night before.

"I agree," Gibbs said. Normally he had a rule about assuming, but he also had a rule about coincidences, plus, his gut was telling him McGee was involved.

Vance sighed and sat down on the couch. "I don't believe this. I thought Tim was finally free from that son of a bitch. What kind of idiots would let him out?"

"Answered your own question, Leon. Look, we'll find him and we'll make him pay," Gibbs said. That was a promise. He cared about Tim too and he wasn't going to let that abusive son of a bitch hurt him again.

"I'm gonna have to tell Tim, Sarah too. She doesn't know what he did. I always thought she would ask about him and we'd have to tell her, but she never asked. She never seemed to care to find out about her biological father. She knew about Melissa because Tim loved her and he talked about her all the time," Vance said. It was something he was grateful for. Sarah never knew her biological father and never had to go through life knowing what an abusive bastard he was like Tim did. He had to battle with what McGee was every day of his life. Even now, Tim's experiences with abuse shaped him.

"Tim turned McGee in for abusing him, right?" Gibbs asked. That was what Penny had told him.

Vance nodded. "He had a little coaching from me. He was scared. Why wouldn't he be? He was seven-years-old. He wouldn't say anything at first. He wouldn't even speak. I sat with him for a few hours and told him everything would be okay. I told him I wouldn't let anyone hurt him again. All he had to do was say what happened everything would be okay. He believed me."

"Because you were his father figure even then," Gibbs said. It was obvious that Vance had always been the real male role model in Tim's life. It was strange. Gibbs had never really seen Vance as anything put a hard ass director whom he didn't totally trust since he became director, but now he was seeing a new side to him. He'd seen it slightly that first time he'd seen him with his younger children, but it was coming out more so now. Vance was more than just a director of a government agency. He was a loving husband and father. He'd dedicated his life to protecting Tim and Sarah.

"Well, when your other choice of a role model is John McGee, you need someone else to fill that void," Vance said.

"Why is he being brought up?"

They both turned to see Tim in the doorway. Vance beckoned his son forward with his finger. "Son, come here."

"Did you tell him?" Tim asked as he walked forward. There was some fear and anger in his voice. He didn't want Gibbs to know about his father. He didn't want the man thinking less of him because of something that happened to him when he was a boy. And they would. Well, maybe not think less of him, but they'd certainly see him differently. He knew that from experience. Whenever someone found out he was abused, their whole demeanor changed. They treated him like he was going to break. But he wasn't. He wasn't some helpless victim, not anymore. He'd survived what happened to him. He would never forget it, but that didn't make him weak.

"I had to. I couldn't be sure that he wasn't responsible for the attempt on your life," Vance said.

Tim frowned. "It can't be him. He's in prison."

"Not anymore. We just found out he was released a year ago," Vance said.

Tim's flew open in shock and horror. "A year?! He's been out a year?!"

"Yeah? And some idiot decided not to tell us," Vance said through gritted teeth. Whoever was responsible for that was going to answer to him. He should've been told so he could protect his family.

Tim collapsed on the couch next to his father. He wasn't afraid, he was overwhelmed and angry. He was mad that the bastard was out to cause him problems again. He knew John would get out eventually, but it seemed way too soon. He supposed it would feel like that no matter how long the man was in though.

"We're gonna find him. Tim. He's not gonna hurt you again," Gibbs promised.

"I'm not afraid of him. I'm not a little kid he can bully and abuse anymore! Let him try to come at me," Tim said angrily.

"Like hell! You're not gonna egg him on. He's coming at you with guns," Vance said.

"I need to get out of here," Tim said before standing up and heading out of the room.


	11. Chapter 11

Vance had just shown Gibbs out and closed the door behind him when Jackie entered the room. "Leon, what's going on? I heard Tim yelling not too long ago."

Vance sighed and turned to face his wife. "He's upset."

"Well, that's obvious. Why, other than the fact that someone is after him?" Jackie asked.

"Where are the others," Vance asked. He wanted to know that his other kids weren't around to overhear, especially Sarah. He didn't want her finding out about John McGee from overhearing it.

"They're cleaning up from breakfast," Jackie said. That was the deal with her making a big breakfast on weekends. She would cook and the others would clean.

Vance motioned to the couch and led the way. He sat down and waited for Jackie to do the same before speaking. "John McGee is out of prison. Gibbs just told me he was released a year ago.

Jackie stared at her husband in disbelief. "John McGee? You're telling me that the son of a bitch that abused our son is on the loose?" She'd never actually met John McGee, a fact he should be grateful for, but she'd heard about the things he'd done to Tim and how he'd almost killed Sarah. If she ever did come into contact with the bastard, she couldn't guarantee he'd live through the encounter.

"It seems so," Vance said.

"And he's been out a year? Why are we just finding out about this now?" Jackie asked angrily. They should've been told as soon as McGee was released. They had the right to know that the monster who'd tortured their son was on the loose.

"Because someone was an idiot! Believe me, I plan to raise hell over it," Vance said.

"And you think he's the one who tried to kill Tim? His own blood?" Jackie asked. She used the word 'blood to describe what Tim was to John McGee because she refused to call him his son. She would never see Tim as that man's son. Tim was her son and Leon's son. They'd taken care of him every day. They'd loved him and helped him to become the remarkable man he was now. He was theirs.

"Blood's never mattered to McGee. The only thing that matters to him is his own ego. He beat Tim and Melissa to build himself up. Having a kid was nothing more to him than having control over someone," Vance said.

Jackie sighed. "No wonder Tim sounded so angry. The man that tormented him is out there."

"I think he feels cornered. He feels like he's once again at McGee's mercy. He wants to fight back this time though. He wants to prove he's not a victim anymore. But the way he wants to do it would put him in danger and I won't allow that," Vance said. He understood his son's need to prove that he was stronger this time around, even though in his opinion, Tim had nothing to prove. He'd probably feel the same way if he were in Tim's position. But the way Tim wanted to do it was too dangerous. He could get hurt, and that wasn't acceptable.

"Neither will I. I'm gonna go talk to him," Jackie said before standing up. She was about to go, but then she thought about something and turned back to her husband. "Uh, what are we going to do about Sarah? She needs to know what's going on."

"I know. One 'kid' at a time. Go talk to Tim. We can figure out how to tell Sarah later," Vance said. Alright, he was putting it up a little. He wasn't ready to tell his little girl that her biological father was a wife and child beating bastard.

Jackie nodded and headed out of the room.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim was in his room at his parents' house seething. Normally when he was this angry, he'd go for a walk to try to cool off, but he couldn't. That was something else he could thank the son of a bitch he once called a father for. He couldn't leave the house without protection detail because John was out there somewhere trying to make his life miserable.

Tim suddenly heard a knock on his door. "Go away!" He knew he sounded like to a petulant teenager saying it, but he really didn't wanna talk to anyone right now. Not that he really expected his childish request to be listened to.

Sure enough, the door opened and Jackie walked inside. "That didn't work when you were sixteen and it won't work now.

"I don't wanna talk, Mom," Tim said.

"Too bad," Jackie said before walking over, pushing her son's feet off the bed and sitting down where they once were. "I know you're upset, but you can't let him do this to you. Don't let him win like this."

Tim laughed humorlessly. "Mom, he's already won."

"That's not true."

"Yeah, it is. Look around you, Mom. He has us all locked in this house, surrounded by agents, wondering what he's going to do next. He's turned us into the prisoners. He's out there laughing his ass off while we're locked away in here, cowering in fear," Tim said. That was what infuriated him. It wasn't that John was out of prison or even that he'd tried to kill him. It was that they were giving him exactly what he wanted by staying cooped up like this.

"We are not cowering! We are protecting ourselves. There's a difference," Jackie said.

"It kinda seems the same," Tim said.

Jackie sighed and grabbed her son's hand. "I know this is hard for you. It would be hard for you either way. You're an agent. Staying cooped up goes against everything you are, and I know it's worse now because of who is likely responsible. But I want you to know that it doesn't make you a coward. Protecting yourself doesn't make you a coward," Jackie said.

"Maybe not, but he sees it that way," Tim said.

"Who cares what he thinks? He doesn't matter! He's never mattered!" Jackie said firmly.

"It matters. It matters because he's laughing at me, and because he's making me his victim again. He may not be striking me, but he's got me trapped. He knows it too. He knows he has me beat," Tim said.

"Tim…"

"I don't wanna talk about this anymore. I just wanna be alone for a while. Please, Mom," Tim begged. He'd had enough. He just wanted to be alone.

If she thought it would help, Jackie would've stayed and continued to try to reason with her son, but she knew that it wouldn't work right now. Tim needed time alone to deal with everything. So she squeezed his hand one last time before getting up and leaving the room.


End file.
